To Ride Out the Storm
by revivingophelia
Summary: Thirteen people. One arena. A major storm. One really long night. Ensemble fic featuring Eve Torres, CM Punk, the Shield, Kaitlyn, Lilian Garcia, and others. Set in early January 2013.
1. Chapter 1

Title: To Ride Out the Storm

Author: Karen U/revivingophelia

Pairing/Character: Eve Torres, CM Punk, the Shield, Paul Heyman, Kaitlyn, Lilian, others

Disclaimer: No one you recognize belongs to me.

Rating: PG-13/T

Summary: Thirteen people. One arena. A major storm. One really long night.

Spoilers: Um... Let's go with set in early January 2013. Anything that happened after the 1/4/13 episode of SmackDown hasn't occurred.

Warnings: language, adult situations. Maybe some minor violence.

* * *

Part One

Eve pushed her hair back from her face, wrinkling up her nose as she looked down at her watch. The company'd had an earlier than usual show that day thanks to the fact that they were on the west coast, meaning the three-hour RAW was over by eight o'clock at night there in Washington state, but it was well after nine at night now, and she knew she was one of the last people there. She sort of figured that Booker T had done that on purpose, wanting her to be stuck at work as long as possible as some sort of punishment for what he considered her bad deeds. Whatever. She knew the reason the man didn't fire her from being his assistant was because he knew that she did at least five times the work that Teddy Long did.

Shaking her head, she glanced over at the man that was flopped across the couch in the room. "You didn't have to stay with me, you know."

"What was I supposed to do? Let you catch a cab? I'm your ride, in case you've forgotten," the WWE champion said, shrugging as he sat there. "Besides that, it's late. And I know you're all empowered and can take care of yourself and all of that, but I still wasn't going to leave you here alone because you're my friend and I'm not letting anything happen to you."

Eve Torres smiled slightly at that, the woman not willing to admit that it was nice to know she still had at least one friend in the company, but glad for it just the same. Sighing, she straightened up, gathering up the paperwork in front of her. "Well, that's everything. Finally."

"You sure?"

"Absolutely. I just got the confirmation that the fax went through. So we're finally done here, and we can go," the woman said, and CM Punk nodded, then pushed himself to his feet, a frown on his face.

"What was the hurry on this one, anyway? I mean, you had to send it to the main office, right?"

"Yes."

"Which is in Connecticut. It's eleven there. Or it was when the show ended. It's after midnight there now. Odds are, no one's there to get it, and won't be until morning."

"I know that, you know that... I'm willing to bet that on some level, even Booker T knows that. He just probably thought it would be fun to make me stay behind and do his paperwork."

"He treats you like dirt."

"Yeah. And I would quit, but if I tried to quit as his assistant, he'd probably fire me totally since he still blames me for what happened to Kaitlyn and refuses to acknowledge the voicemail I got from Aksana telling me that Teddy Long put her up to it in order to get rid of me and that he'd promised her my job if she did it. Booker says that I could have made her do the voicemail. Never mind the fact that by that logic, if I could put her up to lying about me not doing it, then Teddy could put her up to planting evidence and claiming that I did it."

"I still say you should have found a way to get that voicemail played over the sound system."

"And I still say that you should just let that idea go, because it's not going to happen. People want to believe the worst of me, so they do. And on that note, let's get the hell out of here. We've got a pretty good drive to the hotel tonight," she said, and Punk nodded. They had a live Super SmackDown the next night, and in order to cut travel time the next day, they were heading more than a hundred miles down the road tonight... Meaning they had a couple of hours until they got to their hotel, and that was if they made okay time.

Quickly, the two champions gathered up their things and headed out of the office, Punk stopping at his locker room to tell Paul Heyman that they were heading out, the man muttering 'finally' as he rose from where he'd been sitting and shoved the book he'd been reading into a pocket of his oversized overcoat.

"Do you ever think about typing up inappropriate messages to various people at the main office and pretending they're from Booker T?" the older man asked as they headed down the hallway, and Eve smirked slightly at that, shaking her head.

"They'd know it was me. I have thought about sending in a proposal for a bunch of pay per view matches and having every single one of them being a tag team match that absolutely makes no sense at all. Figure I could blame that one on Teddy Long," she replied, drawing a laugh from both Punk and Heyman, and it was because of that that all three of them were smiling when they got to the parking garage... Only to stop short, their laughter cutting off immediately when they saw that they weren't as alone as they'd thought they were.

"Cena," Punk said as neutrally as he could, the man then looking over at the person next to the West Newbury native. "Oh, and look... It's his bestest friend ever. Geez, Zack, I'd thought that bromance had ended when you weren't of any use to Cena any longer."

"Shut up, jerk," Ryder tossed back, and before Punk could make a remark about how cutting that rejoinder wasn't, more people joined them in the parking garage, and Eve arched a brow as she saw who it was.

"What are you two doing here?" she asked, and Kaitlyn glared at her.

"Someone hid my stuff, and Lilian and I had to find it. As if you didn't know."

Eve snorted at that. "I have more important things to do than juvenile pranks on you. I was here filing paperwork for the SmackDown General Manager. I wasn't hiding your... Street clothes?"

"My wrestling boots, actually."

"Natalya and Beth stole my gear once, but with Beth gone... I don't think you're on Nattie's hit list. Alicia can be kind of passive-aggressive, though," she said, then turned her attention to Randy Orton, who had also been in the garage when she, Punk, and Heyman had gotten there, though he hadn't been with Cena and Ryder. "How about you?"

"Saw the trainers. Then got out here to find a blown tire. I'd just finished changing it when the rest of you got here." He gestured to the remaining vehicles in the garage. "I'm guessing we aren't the only ones here."

"You're not," a new voice said, and they all turned to see Daniel Bryan and Kane stepping out into the parking garage, Daniel giving Kane a reproving look. "Kane decided to prove that he could set anything on fire that he wanted to, and it took a little while to put the trash can out."

"That's what happens when you team with a pyromaniac," CM Punk said, shaking his head, he and Eve and Heyman starting to head for their vehicle. As they walked, a phone started ringing, and since the music playing was Cena's theme song, it wasn't all that surprising when he was the one that pulled out a cell phone to answer it. For their parts, Eve, Punk, and Heyman weren't too concerned with whatever phone call Cena was getting, so it came as a surprise when he suddenly called out to them.

"Hey! Wait. Punk! Wait for a minute."

"What do you want?" the WWE champion demanded to know, the three of them turning to Cena, and the man held up his phone.

"It's Booker T. He knew I was staying behind to sign some extra stuff for giveaways and things. You know, for kids."

"And?"

"And whatever he has to say, he wants everyone here to listen to it. It's important," John said, waiting until everyone had come closer before pressing a button on his phone and speaking again. "Okay, man. You're on speaker, and we're all here. What's so important?" he asked, and after a moment, Booker spoke, his voice slightly distorted over the speaker, but still easily recognizable.

"Hey, everybody. I really hate to say this, but... None of y'all can leave the arena now. You're gonna have to stay there tonight-"

"What?" Eve yelped, unable to stop herself, and Booker quickly responded to the sound of her voice.

"Eve? That you? What are you still doing there?"

"I just finished the faxing all the paperwork you wanted. At least a third of it hadn't even been completed yet-"

"Teddy said he had that done. That all you needed to do was fax it."

"Well, he was wrong. I finished filling it out, then sent it. I just got done."

"Okay. Cena said Ryder was there with him and that Orton was there because of a busted tire. Who else is there?"

"I misplaced something and had to look for it. Lilian stayed with me, so we're still here. This is Kaitlyn, by the way," the native Houstonian piped up.

"I was riding to the next show with CM Punk and Paul Heyman, so they're here with me. Kane and Daniel Bryan are still here, too," Eve put in, the woman looking up at the sound of the door to the parking garage opening once more, her eyes widening as she saw who had just walked out. "But, uh, we're not the only ones here."

"Okay. Who else is there?" Booker wanted to know, and Eve swallowed hard, her eyes locked on the men that were now standing near the doors.

"The Shield."


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer in part 1.

Author's Note: Wow! Thanks for all the reviews to the first part of this one. I really do appreciate them, and I'm glad so many people seem interested in this one. I hope you all continue to enjoy the story.

* * *

Part Two

Eve shifted slightly, the diva a little unsettled by the sudden appearance of the Shield, the trio of men slowly approaching the rest of the group. Dean Ambrose smirked slightly as he looked over at Kane and Daniel Bryan, though thankfully, no violence suddenly erupted, which was typically the case whenever the Shield suddenly showed up somewhere.

"The Shield's still there? What are they doin' there?" Booker's voice came from Cena's cell phone, the man still on speakerphone, and Ambrose smirked again before replying.

"We're plotting against you. Or maybe just the people in the company that have committed injustices," the man said, looking over at Ryder as he spoke, and Zack, being a moron, wasn't smart enough to keep quiet.

"What injustice have I committed?" he demanded to know, and Rollins actually laughed softly at that.

"Your existence is an injustice," the man muttered, drawing a bit of a smile from Eve at that, mainly because she was always happy whenever someone was rude to Zack.

Cena cleared his throat, apparently deciding it was in their best interests to try to avoid a fight at the moment. He also apparently thought that, since it was his cell phone (or maybe just because he was John Cena) that he was kind of the leader of the group. "So, Booker... Why exactly is it that you think we need to stay at the arena for the night?" the man questioned, and Eve saw the men of the Shield exchange glances at that. Of course, they hadn't been out there yet when Booker had made the announcement, so it was a bit of a surprise to them.

"Well, there's a storm on its way. Nasty one. Hadn't hit where you're at just yet, but it will real soon. I know a lot of people were plannin' to drive part of the way to the next show tonight, and I'm just hopin' they actually make it. It's cold enough that the rain's turning into ice. Roads are slick as all get out, and it's got a lot of wind. By the middle of the night, there's probably gonna be snow, too, and it's just gonna be bad. As your boss, I'm tellin' you that, for your own safety, you've got to stay there. All of you."

"Aw, man. Spend all night in the same building as a hoeski like Eve- Ow! Damn it!"

"What just happened?" Booker demanded to know, and CM Punk stepped forward to make sure his reply was heard.

"Zack Ryder was showing his insane level of immaturity, so I kicked him in the head."

"Dude, Punk, you guys all have to stay there together tonight. You can't go pickin' fights with each other."

"Well, if he will refrain from behaving like an immature asswipe, then I will refrain from kicking him in the head," Punk replied, and although CM Punk and Randy Orton weren't exactly what could be called friends, the Viper nodded his head slightly in response to that.

"There are plenty of rooms in this place anyway. We don't have to stay together. Because if we did, I might end up having to RKO Ryder on the concrete," the man said, the words causing Ryder's eyes to widen as the man took a step back, and Eve smiled again slightly before moving closer to the phone, ignoring the fact that it meant she had to move closer to Cena.

"Booker? This is Eve," she said, tucking some hair behind her ear as she spoke, pointedly ignoring the man holding the phone. "In terms of the storm... How long before it blows out of here? And what about the power? Are there expected to be a lot of outages?"

"It should be gone by morning, but the roads... They might be pretty bad. Truth be told, we aren't too sure we're gonna be able to have the live SmackDown tomorrow night. Might not be able to get enough of you to the arena."

"And the power?"

"That's a concern. Ice and snow get heavy on those power lines, then the lines go down. Not to mention the wind. So there's a good chance you might lose power there once the storm really hits. The backup generator at the arena might turn on some emergency lights, but not much. Mostly that kind of stuff's geared toward the freezers and refrigerators where they keep the stuff for concessions. The arena officials knew that some of y'all were still there. They were gonna come and officially close everything up once you were all gone, but with the storm comin' in... That ain't happening."

"So what you're saying is... We're all going to be here all night, and it's just going to be us?" CM Punk questioned, doing a quick head count of the group. "The thirteen of us?"

"That's right, man. Look, I'm sorry. I know it sucks, but I'm just looking out for your safety. All of y'all."

"We know that, Booker. And we appreciate it," John Cena said earnestly, causing Paul Heyman to roll his eyes, and Eve thought she heard someone else mutter something about being a brown-noser. She thought it might have been Orton.

"I'm still sorry about it. And I'm gonna trust all of you to try and get along, though, all right. To behave yourselves and act like adults." There was a pause, and then Booker cleared his throat. "Now, let me get all this straight, just so I got it down right... I know that Cena and Ryder and Orton are there. Eve's there, with CM Punk and Paul Heyman... And Lilian, Kaitlyn, Team Hell No and... And the Shield are all there? Right?"

Eve nodded, having glanced around at each person or group as Booker listed them. "That's right."

"Okay, then. Now all of you stay safe, and stay in that building, you dig? And Eve? I'll talk to Teddy Long about that paperwork," the man said, and Eve smiled tightly, not really believing it, but trying to sound sincere.

"I'd appreciate it."

"All right then. I'll let you go now. I'll try and call again in the morning, make sure everything's okay," Booker said, and then the phone call was over, John Cena pressing the buttons necessary to end the call and lock his phone, the man then shoving it into his pocket as he looked at everyone in the group.

"Now, look. The way I see it is this: we're all stuck here. We may not all like each other, but we have to get through this. We're all going to be just fine-"

"And we don't need a pep talk from Super-Cena," CM Punk interrupted in a droll voice, the WWE champion shaking his head and rolling his eyes. "Look. We're here. We're not going anywhere. That's the way it is. As Orton said, we don't have to hang out together. Maybe if the power goes out we should stick to just a few rooms or something, but if the power's on... What the hell? Wander wherever. No one's coming to lock up, and the lights will stay on unless the electricity goes out completely. So we're just going to... Split up and leave each other the hell alone."

"Kaitlyn and Lilian can hang with me and Cena," Zack suddenly piped up, and the two women exchanged a look before Kaitlyn gave him a bright but insincere smile.

"Thanks for the offer, but... We're just going to... Head back to the divas' locker room. No guys allowed," the woman said, quickly turning on her heel and heading for the door that led back into the arena, Lilian with her. Eve watched them go, then blinked as she realized something. The Shield had already gone back inside, though they'd left so quietly that no one had even noticed.

"I think they have the right idea. We should get back inside the building instead of hanging out in the parking garage," the diva said, then frowned as the group of them made their way in. "With all of us in there... No one's coming to lock up... I'm not sure I like the idea that just anyone can get inside..."

"This is the only door that would be unlocked. Any other entrances and exits would have been locked a long time ago. Emergency exits would still open from the inside, obviously," Heyman said, and Eve arched a brow at him.

"Yeah, but... This door is still unlocked from the outside. Just because we're the only ones supposed to be here... Someone else could get in."

"Well, now I'm officially creeped out," Daniel Bryan said, and Eve shrugged.

"Sorry, I just..."

"We could barricade it. Roll a dumpster in front of it or something. With Cena's freakish strength and all," Punk said, half-serious, half-smirking as he spoke, and after a few more minutes debate during which Randy Orton had left and come back with a fairly heavy chain with a padlock on it, they'd ended up chaining the door shut, then heading off in smaller groups... Orton going off by himself, Team Hell No heading off together, and Zack heading off to try and find Kaitlyn and Lilian in hopes of convincing them to hang out with him... Cena hurrying off after him. None of them were sure whether he was going to try to convince Zack to leave the women alone, or if he was going to try and help Zack convince them. With the Shield already off somewhere else, that left Eve, Punk, and Heyman together... Heyman shrugging his shoulders as he looked at them.

"Not the worst nightly accommodations I've had."

"Not the best, either," Eve muttered. "Anyone got cash? Like, ones?"

"Why? You planning to try and find a strip club in this place?" Punk asked, and the diva rolled her eyes.

"No. I'm planning to raid the vending machines. We're going to need something to eat at some point. If the power goes out, the machines will stop working, and if we break into them... Well, the arena's going to know who was here, so we'd probably get charged for damages."

"Good point," Paul said, reaching down into his bag and digging out what looked to be... Eve had no idea how many ones. Just that there were a lot of them. Punk arched a brow at the man.

"Well, Eve might not have been planning to go to a strip club, but it looks like Paul was," he said, earning a dirty look from the older man.

"Oh, shut up. It's not like I'm going to one now. Let's go and find something to eat."

And so they did.


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer, etc., in part 1.

Thanks to everyone that's reviewed/favorited/followed this one. Hope you continue to enjoy the fic.

* * *

Part Three

"You okay?"

Eve looked over at the words, the diva frowning, then turning her attention back toward the now-empty arena. She and CM Punk had made the decision to climb up to the seats that were at the top of the lower level, Paul Heyman huffing and puffing and muttering as he followed them, though he didn't actually complain out loud about their destination of choice. He had, however, stopped about a half a dozen rows below where Eve and Punk had chosen to settle, the man sitting on one of the chairs and reading the book they'd found him with earlier. He had a bag of popcorn that he'd found - and that Eve had insisted that he pay for - at one of the abandoned concession stands. Most everything there had been put up, of course, though there had been some bags of popcorn and peanuts and cotton candy here and there.

"I'm fine," Eve replied just before it seemed the WWE champion was going to ask his question again, the diva carefully pulling out a piece of the cotton candy that they'd found and subsequently paid for by leaving money shoved under the corner of the closed register. Punk had insisted that, if they were going to eat cotton candy, it at least had to be blue. "Why would you ask?"

"Because we're stuck here overnight with a lot of people that you don't like."

"Well, to be fair, they don't like me any more than I like them."

"Yeah, well, Kane freakin' terrorized you last winter, Zack and Cena are still both twelve-year-olds that think it's cool to call you names, and Kaitlyn blames you for things you didn't do. And I'm not just talking about hiding her wrestling boots tonight," Punk said, then shot her a side-long look. "You *didn't* do that, did you?"

Eve snorted, lifting the can of Diet Coke she'd bought to her mouth and taking a drink before she replied. "No, I didn't. I had more important things to do than some sort of juvenile prank. Like fill out the paperwork that Teddy Long so thoughtfully didn't finish. And I was serious earlier when I said it could have been Alicia. The woman can be seriously passive-aggressive, and she also just can't seem to make up her mind. One minute she likes you, the next she doesn't." She paused. "Too bad the wellness program doesn't include a psych eval."

This time, it was Punk's turn to snort. "Eve, sweetie, if the wellness program included a psychiatric evaluation, then most of the roster probably wouldn't be cleared to compete. And Vince McMahon would probably be locked up somewhere."

"I'm not sure the wellness policy applies to the boss, since he's not a wrestler. Same goes with anyone else that doesn't get in the ring."

"Which explains why Teddy Long acts the way he does. He's totally high all the time, but is never caught because he's never tested," Punk replied, leaning back in the chair he was in and putting his feet on the back of the one in front of him. "Seriously, though... There could be some pretty messed-up things happening tonight, given who all's here."

"Well, I don't plan to pick a fight with Kaitlyn or Lilian. I have no problem with Lilian Garcia - I never have - and Kaitlyn's not worth it. She still thinks I attacked her at Night of Champions, and I'm sick of it, and I really just want to stay the hell away from her."

"I second that emotion. Or whatever," Punk replied, closing his eyes for a moment, then opening them again, looking over at her as he took a drink of the Pepsi in his hand, then reached for the cotton candy they were sharing with the other one. They also had a rather varied selection of chips, candy bars, and even cookies that they'd bought from the vending machines, as well as a couple more drinks. They'd probably be warm by the time they got around to drinking them, but it was better than having nothing at all if the lights went out. It would be better if they had bottled water, though. Eve knew the water would still work if the power went out, but there was just no way she was drinking unfiltered city water.

Eve flicked a look over at Punk, arching a brow when she caught the champion looking at her. "What is it?"

"I know Kane's left you alone ever since you made sure that you weren't connected to Cena any longer... But what about Cena and Ryder being here? You think you can handle that?"

"It's a big arena. I don't plan to search them out. And if we do end up stuck in the same room together, I figure you'll be there. And you'll just kick Zack in the head again if he says something," the diva said, smirking slightly at the memory of what had happened earlier in the parking garage, when Punk, without a second's pause, had just hauled off an kicked Zack in the head. So far, that had been Eve's favorite moment of the night.

"I don't think Orton would be above RKO-ing the guy, either," Punk replied. "Orton's always had a quick temper, and a guy like Ryder could really get on his last nerve quick. Might be fun to put them in a room together and see how long it takes before Orton's punting Ryder in the head."

"Don't think the Shield likes Zack so well, either," Eve put in, thinking of the words Seth Rollins had muttered, that Zack's mere existence was an injustice. She couldn't say she disagreed with his assessment... Even if the Shield made her vaguely uneasy... As did the idea of the three of them wandering around here somewhere. And while she didn't think they would put their hands on her - they hadn't touched one of the divas as of yet - the problem was that she didn't *know* that they wouldn't attack her.

"Well, that just means that they are intelligent young men. Also, they haven't attacked me so far, so that's in their favor."

"Yes, but they have attacked Kane, Daniel Bryan, and Randy Orton, all of whom are here tonight. Could get ugly."

"Which is why we should steer clear," the WWE champion replied, leaning back in his seat again. He reached out and snagged some more cotton candy, then glanced down at Eve's bag, where the rest of their snacks were stashed. "What else do we have in there?"

"Everything from Cheetos to Snickers bars to Fig Newtons. Also possibly some Chips Ahoy. The Starburst are totally mine, though. You can have the Skittles. And if we actually eat most of this crap? We are so going to be puking our guts out. I don't eat junk like this very often. I'll end up on a sugar high then totally crash."

"Me and you both. But we've got to eat something, and I know you hadn't eaten anything since dinner tonight, since you ate it with me... And that was before the show. We ate at, like, four o'clock this afternoon. Stupid west coast shows messing up our eating schedule."

"Three hour time difference. We go live on the east coast at eight, which means it's five o'clock start time when we're filming on the west coast," Eve muttered, then smiled slightly. "The show doesn't start airing here until we're pretty much done filming it. Sometimes I wonder if the fans that were at the show go home and watch it again."

"Probably. Just to see if they were on television or something," CM Punk replied, then jerked slightly as the lights that were still on - there weren't as many since it was well after the show - seemed to dim a bit, then came back on. "Oh, that is not good."

"Definitely not," Eve said, sitting very still as the lights dimmed again, never quite going out, but definitely teasing that they might.

"You think we'll really lose power?"

"At the moment? It's looking likely. We don't know what it's like out there... If there's sleet and ice on the power lines, that could weigh them down and take them out. The same with heavy snow weighing them down. Then there's the wind and the possibility of tree branches or something else taking them out. Booker T seemed to think it was likely, and it probably is. And if the power does go out, then any backup stuff will mostly be going to the emergency lights - which won't do much - and the freezers and things. We'll be pretty much in the dark."

"Does not sound like fun. Not if we're up here when it happens," CM Punk muttered, looking around at where they were. They were about five rows from the top of the section, which meant they were at least close to a flat surface, but trying to navigate the steps up or down once the power went out could be disastrous. And if wasn't that they hadn't thought about that before... Or maybe it was, because they'd really just wanted to be far away from people like Cena and Ryder and hadn't thought too much about what could happen if the lights went out when it came to where they were headed... But now that the lights had flickered twice - make that three times - they were starting to take the issue a little more seriously.

"We should... Probably head somewhere else. Either up to the concourse, or try to make it back down and head backstage again," Eve said, and Punk nodded as he bent to gather some of their things, grabbing everything but Eve's purse, the man even getting her bag for her - though she figured that was as much because the snacks were split between her bag and her purse as anything else - the two of them rising to their feet just as the lights flickered yet again... And then went out. Completely. Total freaking darkness.

"Well, shit."

Eve agreed with Punk's sentiments completely.


	4. Chapter 4

Disclaimer, etc., in part 1. Thanks to all that have reviewed/favorited/followed this one. Hope you all continue to enjoy. :)

* * *

Part Four

Eve shifted closer to the WWE champion, her hand coming out to grab onto his arm, fingers curling around his bicep, nails digging slightly into the material of the hooded sweatshirt he was wearing. She could feel her friend reach up, cover her hand with his own.

"Do we try and get up to the concourse and risk falling, or do we stay where we are?" Punk asked her, and Eve bit her lip, unsure. She could handle the darkness - though she wasn't exactly a fan of it in an unfamiliar place like this - but the idea of staying in the damn stands for the entire night didn't exactly appeal to the woman.

"We could try to find our cell phones. The screen could give enough light so that we don't fall down the stairs," she said after a moment, shifting a little closer to Punk as she spoke, a frown touching her lips as she looked back toward where the concourse should be and spotted... "Do you see a light?" she asked, starting to use her free hand to point it out, then lowering her hand again when she realized that CM Punk wouldn't be able to see where she was pointing. After all, it was pretty much pitch dark, and even if there was a small amount of light around, their eyes hadn't had the chance to adjust enough to make any use of it. "Behind us. Coming from the concession area," Eve added, sensing Punk shifting next to her as the man looked in the direction she instructed him to.

"More than one light. I'm guessing some of the others," Punk said, and Eve nodded, letting go of the WWE champion in order to reach into her purse and grab her cell phone, quickly turning it on and using the illumination from the screen to get a slightly better sense of their surroundings, one hand coming back up to wrap around Punk's arm. As the lights came closer, she realized that there were three people approaching, and it didn't take much of a leap to figure out who it was that was headed their way.

The Shield stopped several feet away from them, Ambrose briefly looking them up and down before the man spoke, gesturing a bit with the flashlight in his hand. "We figured that with the lights out, we should try and find everybody. It's one thing to be wandering around when the lights are on, but with the power gone... We should probably find everybody and stick to a few rooms. That way we know where everybody is."

"No sneak attacks," Punk stated, and Ambrose shrugged.

"There is that. But it's really just smart to make sure everyone's accounted for. It would be a shame if someone wandered off and managed to fall down the stairs or something," the man said, his tone making it difficult to tell if he really thought it would be a shame, and Eve let out a slightly wistful sigh.

"It wouldn't be a shame if it was Zack Ryder," she muttered, perhaps speaking a little more loudly than she intended, because Punk wasn't the only one that looked amused at her remark. Despite the fact that the men's faces were shrouded in shadow because they only had a couple of flashlights for light, she was pretty sure she saw a smile on the face of Seth Rollins at her comment. It appeared that Ambrose had heard her words as well, because the man arched a brow at her.

"You really don't like him, do you?"

"I have my reasons. Only one of which being the fact that he wrote my phone number on every bathroom wall he could find and I had to change it. Twice, because he somehow managed to get my number a second time."

"I'm voting that Teddy Long did that one. He has access to your file. He probably gave the number to Zack. Kelly probably gave it to him the first time," Punk stated, then looked over at Eve. "You want me to kick him in the head again for you?"

"I wouldn't be opposed," the woman said, then turned her attention back to the Shield, not wanting to air all of her secrets and dirty laundry in front of men that she didn't really know. "We should probably get out of here. Well, off the stairs, anyway."

"We need to find the others. Anyone else with you?" Ambrose questioned, aiming his flashlight at the row that Eve and Punk were on and finding nothing. Punk turned to call down the rows of stairs.

"Hey, Paul? You still with us?" he yelled out, then jerked slightly when a small light suddenly flickered on several rows down.

"Reading light. Just found it," Heyman replied, squinting up at the rest of them. Standing, he started to gather his things. "Don't know where anybody else is, though."

"I think Kaitlyn and Lilian were hanging out in some of the seats near where the ring was set up," Eve commented, and Ambrose paused.

"I thought they said they were going back to the divas' locker room," the man said, and the diva frowned slightly, because she was pretty sure that she'd noticed the Shield was gone right around the time Kaitlyn had said that. Apparently, they'd still been close enough to hear what the others were saying.

"Well, I guess they lied. Probably to avoid hanging out with Ryder," Eve replied, and Ambrose nodded, then headed down a few steps.

"I'll lead the way. Since Seth has the other flashlight, he should probably bring up the rear," the man said, not waiting to see if the others agreed with him before he started walking again, Eve and Punk exchanging a quick look before shrugging and moving to join the group. Reigns was following after Ambrose, and Punk stepped in behind him, meaning Eve ended up between the WWE champion and Seth Rollins... Which, really, was probably the best she could hope for, because while all of the men in the Shield had a dangerous air about them, somehow Rollins seemed a little less menacing than the others.

"You got all your stuff?" Rollins said from behind her, his voice soft, but Eve still jerked slightly at the sound of it, not really expecting the man to speak to her.

She nodded. "Yeah. I'm good," she told him, glancing briefly back over her shoulder at the man as she spoke, meeting his eyes for just a moment before turning her attention back to the front and reaching out a hand to grasp a handful of material near the shoulder of Punk's hoodie. Punk glanced back at her at the touch, nodding slightly before shooting a look back behind her at Rollins. She thought he frowned a bit in the dim light before he turned to face forward again, but it was hard to tell, even with the light from the flashlights. Of course, Ambrose and Rollins were holding the flashlights to illuminate the path ahead, aiming them mostly downward toward the stairs they were on, which meant that there wasn't much light touching anyone's face at all.

"If you're wearing heels, you should be really careful," Rollins said from behind her, the man still speaking quietly, probably quietly enough that Ambrose and Reigns, the two men in front, could barely even hear him.

Eve shook her head a little. "Boots, actually. I'll be fine. But thanks," she told him as the group paused to add Paul Heyman to the line of people, the man frowning as he stepped in between Reigns and Punk, the man still using his little reading light to see. It wasn't all that powerful, but at least it added a little bit more light to the area.

"So... Are we going to wander around and look for everyone as a group... Or what?" Punk questioned after a moment, and Eve thought she saw Ambrose shrug slightly.

"We got two flashlights... Heyman has his book light. We could split up into two groups. If you trust us enough," he said, the last words sounding a little ominous, but Punk just shrugged his shoulders.

"You haven't attacked me yet. But if we do split up to look for the others, Eve stays with me," the WWE champion said and, while Eve would usually be annoyed as hell at someone trying to speak for her, in this case, she was content to let it slide, because really... The idea of heading off in search of the others with no one but Roman Reigns for company or something was more than a little unsettling. Not that she really thought he or any other member of the Shield would attack her just for kicks or something... But they were still men she didn't know and wandering off alone in the dark with any of them just didn't strike her as a very intelligent thing to do.

Ambrose glanced back over his shoulder, shooting Punk a look that was fairly mild. "Suit yourself. But she'd probably be safer with us than she would be with assholes like Cena and Ryder."

Eve snorted. "I could make Ryder cry if I had to," she stated. "And a knee to the groin and a punch to the throat would buy me some time against Cena."

"I would pay to see you punch that man in the throat," Ambrose told her, smirking at her before turning his attention back to the stairs in front of him, moving a little faster now, and it wasn't really all that long before they reached the bottom of the steps and started weaving their way through the seats that were on the floor. The wrestling ring had been packed away by the crew, but the barriers were still up, the arena not fully cleaned from having the show there, probably because the storm coming in had sent people leaving early, and the group found themselves having to climb over the barricades, something that was a little awkward in the dark. From the sounds of it, Heyman almost fell, Punk having to reach over and yank him back up, the WWE champion then climbing over himself. Before he could turn back to help Eve, though, Seth Rollins was already helping her over, Ambrose reaching over and grabbing hold of her arm to keep her from stumbling over the still-a-bit-unsteady Heyman, the man frowning as he heard the crinkling sounds coming from her purse. "What all do you have in there?"

"We raided the vending machines earlier in case the lights went out. We've got plenty of snacks."

"We have a case of bottled water. We left it in one of the offices," Ambrose replied. "It's going to be a long night. I would suggest we all share."

"Sounds like a plan to me," Eve said, all too aware of the fact that Seth Rollins had just climbed the barricade as well, a move that put the man close enough to her that she could feel the heat of his body, though he wasn't touching her. Punk reached out and hooked an arm around her waist, bringing her closer to him instead, still looking like he wasn't sure he really trusted the Shield.

"Come on. Let's go find the others," the Chicago native said, and Ambrose smirked at him, then shrugged, repeating Eve's words from moments before.

"Sounds like a plan to me."


	5. Chapter 5

Disclaimer, etc, in part 1. Once again, thanks to all that have reviewed/favorited/followed this one. :)

* * *

Part Five

They found Kaitlyn and Lilian fairly easily after that, the two women sitting just a few rows behind the barrier on the opposite side of the arena and using the glow from their cell phone screens for light as they tried to figure out what to do. To be honest, both women seemed a little reluctant to join the rest of them, though the fact that Ambrose and Rollins actually had flashlights that were a much better source of light than the cell phones made them decide to join up... If only because it would help them get to the back and hopefully find a more comfortable place to spend the night than in the stands. The women had both seemed surprised - and more than a little freaked out - when Roman Reigns had gone to help them climb the barricade. Kaitlyn had actually managed it pretty well on her own, though Lilian had more trouble and ended up finding herself lifted over the barricade by the big man.

Eve heaved out a sigh, looking around at the rest of the group. "There's still five people to find," the divas' champion muttered, and Ambrose glanced around, seemingly doing the same quick head-count she'd just done, then nodded.

"Pretty much. And I'd say they'll be in two or three groups-"

"Probably three. Orton doesn't play well with others," Punk put in. "He'll probably be alone, then you'll have Daniel and Kane in one group and Ryder and Cena in the other."

"If we're looking for Daniel Bryan and Kane, then we should just listen for some yelling. Those two still don't get along all that well," Eve commented, and Punk nodded.

"True enough. So do we just wander and hope we find someone or what?"

"We could split up. That might go faster," Roman Reigns said, and Punk shot Eve a look at that, the man frowning slightly. The truth was, there was no good way to split up; not really. Sure, the Shield could be one group and Eve, Punk, and Paul in another, but then Kaitlyn and Lilian would have to decide who to go with and, really... They probably wouldn't want to go with either one.

"Or there's safety in numbers and all that," Rollins stated, shrugging when the others looked at him. "I can just picture Cena and Ryder being dumbasses and trying to jump out and scare somebody. Or just jump somebody. Plus we would have to figure out a place to meet up after we found everyone, or figure out a time limit or something so we'd know when to meet up. We may as well just stick together."

"I agree with Rollins," Eve stated. "Especially since there's only two flashlights and we can't be sure that one of them won't go out. Or both of them, actually, but still... It's probably best to stick together."

"Then let's head to the back," Ambrose said, the man once again leading the way... Reigns and Heyman following after him easily enough, though Kaitlyn and Lilian looked a bit hesitant before falling in line. Eve and CM Punk stayed toward the back, Rollins falling into step beside them, the second flashlight in his hand lighting the way as they walked.

Kaitlyn cleared her throat. "You know... Ryder told me once that he really likes storms. Thinks they're cool to watch or whatever. He actually likes to go out in them. You don't think he and Cena would have... Like maybe gone back out to the parking garage and gone to the exit or something to see what the storm's doing... Do you?" she asked, and Eve shook her head.

"They shouldn't be able to, not without bolt-cutters," the woman said, shrugging when that caused everyone but Paul and Punk to look at her in surprise. The WWE champion picked up the explanation for her.

"We didn't like the idea of that door being unlocked all night, especially since we figured that there was a chance the power might go out. Too many horror movie feelings that way, so Orton went and found a padlock and chain and the door's chained shut. We can unlock it in the morning. Orton had the key."

"And if he loses it?" Lilian wanted to know, and Punk shrugged.

"Bolt-cutters. Got to be around here somewhere. Or wait for someone to show up and open one of the other doors. It's the only door we did that to, and people out there somewhere have keys to the other ones."

"So do we head to the lower concourse or something to see if Ryder and Cena are storm-watching through the windows, or do we look for the others?" Ambrose wanted to know, and Punk shrugged.

"Right now, that's probably the best idea we've got for where someone might be," the older man replied. "Orton's probably found himself a dark corner to hide in somewhere or something, and Kane could be setting fire to any number of trash cans. Plus, I can't say I'd be opposed to seeing how bad it looks out there."

"If we can see anything at all," Eve added, though she didn't protest the idea of heading to the lower concourse where the fans entered, large glass doors and several large window panels allowing people to see outside.

"She has a point. I'm sure it's pretty much pitch black out there, but it's a place to start," Ambrose stated, glancing around at the others, the man looking a bit skeptical when his gaze moved over Kaitlyn and Lilian, almost like he didn't expect them to be okay with staying with everyone else. Perhaps noting his look, Kaitlyn squared her shoulders, lifting her chin a little as she looked at him.

"You're the one with the flashlight. Lead the way," she said, and the man smirked slightly before doing just that, starting to head around toward the backstage area, the rest of them following after the man, Eve once more finding herself walking between CM Punk and Seth Rollins.

With only two flashlights amongst the eight of them, they had to stick fairly close to one another and move pretty carefully. Lilian actually nearly tripped over some wires that hadn't been moved out of the way, Ambrose managing to turn around and grab her by the arm, keeping her upright long enough for her to get her feet underneath her again. A quiet thank you and a quick nod later, they were back on their way again, moving through the backstage area until they got to a door that connected that area to the concourse, the group of them heading through and finding themselves staring at what seemed to be a wall of windows. Here, there were a few emergency lights that were still being powered by the generator, but the light still wasn't all that much.

Kaitlyn winced at the sound of the wind whistling outside, the diva moving past Ambrose to go closer to the windows. "It sounds awful out there."

"It looks awful," Ambrose replied, gesturing. Some of the security lights around the building apparently had generator back-up as well, because it didn't seem to be pitch-black outside. The lighting was crap, sure, but they could still see enough to see the snow coming down, the wind blowing it around so hard it sometimes seemed to be snowing up instead of down.

"Wouldn't want to be driving in that," Rollins added, and Eve nodded. It was coming down incredibly hard; the roads were probably already more or less impassable, and the wind conditions would make it pretty much impossible to see out there.

"Definitely not," the woman replied, crossing her arms as she stood there. Just looking at the snow whipping around, hearing the wind whistling outside, was enough to make her feel as if it had dropped a few degrees colder. Of course, being out so close to so many windows probably meant that it was a bit colder at the moment. "So... Do we walk around the entire concourse to see if they're here, or what?"

"There's another big area of windows on the other side," Heyman said, and Kaitlyn nodded slightly as she moved closer to the window.

"He's right. I was walking around earlier, before the fans were being let in, and I saw it," the diva said, turning away from the window as she spoke and because she did so, she missed seeing it as a heavy branch from one of the trees outside - broken by a combinations of the high winds and the snow weighing it down - came crashing down, slamming hard into the window, proving that the glass wasn't unbreakable as it shattered on impact... Kaitlyn protected from being hit only by another body slamming into hers and knocking her to the ground, covering her as the shards of glass came raining down.

"Holy shit," Ambrose managed, he and Punk and Rollins hurrying over to push at the heavy branch - as big as some trees - and check on the others.

Kaitlyn looked shocked as Roman Reigns lifted himself off of her, the big man wincing and brushing at the glass that had hit him. For her part, Kaitlyn seemed uninjured, just surprised. She hadn't even scraped up her hands as she'd fallen, the intricate tile on the entrance just leaving her hands red from the impact instead. Reigns, however, wasn't so lucky, the man having been hit by several shards of glass that left small cuts on his face and arm.

"Okay, no more windows for us," Rollins commented as he helped Reigns haul himself to his feet, and Eve shook her head.

"Definitely not," the diva said, picking her way through the pieces of glass to stand with the men. She arched a brow as she looked up at Reigns. "You need to have those looked at."

"It's fine."

"You may have glass in those cuts, and an arena isn't the cleanest place in the world. You need to have them taken care of," Eve replied, and Ambrose and Rollins nodded in agreement, though it was Ambrose that spoke.

"It's decided then. Next stop: trainer's room. And hopefully it will be the only time we need to go there tonight."

Eve couldn't help but agree.


	6. Chapter 6

Disclaimer, etc., in part 1. Once again, thanks to all that have reviewed/favorited/followed this one.

* * *

Part Six

The group made their way to the trainers' room where the first aid supplies were, Eve actually walking toward the front of the group with Dean Ambrose this time instead of hanging toward the back. The man navigated the darkened arena with surprising ease considering the fact that he hadn't been on the main roster long enough to have really been there before... But given the way that the Shield pretty much made sure they were only seen when they wanted to be, she kind of thought that the trio of men were probably rather good at finding their way around places.

As they entered the trainers' room, Eve immediately made her way over to one of the cabinets, dropping her bag and purse on the counter before reaching up to open the cabinet and starting to shove stuff around to find what she needed. The light from a flashlight shining into the cabinet made it a lot easier to find what she needed, a glance over her shoulder telling her that it was Seth Rollins that was standing there with her with now while Ambrose was still near the door to the room. Some of the others had stayed out in the hallway, probably because the room really wasn't big enough for all eight of them, but Punk was there, apparently unwilling to be too far away from her with the Shield around... Which was sweet of him, she supposed, but rather unnecessary because she really didn't think any of them were going to do anything. After all, Roman Reigns had actually just tried to protect Kaitlyn when that branch had crashed through the window. That wasn't exactly the behavior of a really bad guy.

Quickly, Eve pulled down what she would need, then turned, gesturing toward Reigns. "I'll need you to sit down so I can actually get a better look at those cuts," she said, the diva bringing what she'd gathered over to a table, then reaching into her purse and pulling out a pair of tweezers. They were new - she'd just bought them that day when she'd realized she'd left hers at home - and as she took them out of the packaging, Reigns arched a brow at her.

"What the hell is that?"

"You might have glass in some of those cuts. I'll have to get it out," she told him, opening up a bottle of peroxide and dipping the tweezers in. She didn't have anything to actually sterilize it, so she figured that was the best she could do for now... Plus, after she got the glass out, she'd clean the cuts, use the antibacterial cream she's found, then cover them, so hopefully it would be okay. Shaking her head slightly, she reached into her bag again and pulled out her little travel-sized bottle of antibacterial hand gel, squirting a little on her hands before stepping a little closer to Reigns. The man sent her a side-long look.

"This isn't necessary."

"Don't be a baby," Eve said before she could stop herself, and while that comment earned her a raised eyebrow from Reigns, the man didn't say or do anything, so she continued what she was doing, frowning as she looked down at his cuts... or what she could see of them. "I'm going to need a light over here," she stated, and Rollins quickly made his way over to her, coming to stand with her, aiming the flashlight as best he could so that she could get a better look at his teammates injuries.

"Sorry about that," he muttered, looking a little sheepish about the fact that he hadn't come over there before, but Eve didn't say anything else about it, instead shifting closer to Reigns and leaning forward to get a better look at the cuts on his arm and shoulder and face. The good news was that there didn't seem to be a lot of glass in the cuts, though she did pick out a few shards, including one that was large enough that the big man hissed through his teeth and flinched when she pulled it out.

"Sorry," she whispered as she worked, carefully dropping the pieces of glass on a tissue, then taking them over to the biohazard container on the wall and dropping them in. Shaking her head, she went back to where Reigns sat, reaching for the peroxide again so she could clean the cuts... Automatically starting to reach up when a piece of her hair fell in front of her face, then realizing she needed to put something down first. Before she could do so, another hand reached out, Eve blinking in surprise and holding herself very still as Seth Rollins quickly tucked her hair back so that it wasn't in the way. Taking a deep breath, Eve went back to work, carefully cleaning the cuts, a quick glance to the side letting her see that Punk was standing a few feet away, the man watching them very closely with an unreadable expression on his face. It was clear that he was watching the interaction between her and Rollins more carefully than he was the interaction between her and Reigns, and she really didn't know what to make of that - Rollins was just holding the light for her and had just moved her hair out of the way for her, which really wasn't a big deal - so instead she continued to focus on Roman Reigns and the cuts he had.

"They're not that bad," she told him as she crouched down to get a better look at a cut that ran down his arm, the diva figuring that the man probably wished he wasn't still wearing his Shield gear - well, the gear minus the vest, actually - because if he'd been wearing a shirt with sleeves, he might have been more protected from the glass. If he'd been wearing a sweatshirt or his jacket his arms would have definitely been more protected. Unfortunately for him, that wasn't the case, and the shirt the man was wearing had no sleeves. "Probably sting like hell, though."

"I've been through worse," the man replied, tensing up slightly as she cleaned the longest cut. It wasn't deep, more of a scratch than a true cut, but it was a few inches long, and it probably stung like crazy.

"And this could have been a lot worse. If that tree..." She trailed off, shaking her head, the diva reaching for the antibacterial cream this time, starting to put some on the cuts, noting the way some of the tension left the man's shoulders as she did so. Clearly, the cream was less painful than the peroxide was, and it was obviously better than sitting there while she picked glass out of his arm and shoulder, too. Arching a brow, she lifted herself from her crouched position, carefully applying the cream to the cuts on his shoulder, the one shallow cut on his neck, and the few that decorated his cheek. "Most of them have stopped bleeding. But there are still a few. I should probably cover those," she said, and while Reigns didn't turn his head to look at her, he shifted his gaze to look at her from the corner of his eye, the man nodding slightly in response.

"None of the cuts were deep, right?" Ambrose asked from his spot at the door, and Eve looked over at the man as she gathered the few bandages she would need to cover the cuts that were still bleeding. Kaitlyn was standing near him, the woman looking like she still wasn't sure what to think about the fact that Reigns had pushed her out of the way of that tree branch. Like maybe she thought it was a dream or something, because she didn't think that, in the real world, any member of the Shield would be someone's hero. Eve kind of couldn't blame Kaitlyn for her obvious shock about what had happened.

"It didn't look like it. None of the glass got deep enough to cause any problems. Only a couple of them are still bleeding, and those were the ones I got glass out of, plus the one scratch that's longer," she said, starting to work on the bandages as she spoke. Only one cut on his face was still bleeding, a small scratch that she'd pulled a little bit of glass out of, and she quickly smoothed the small band-aid over it before going to the cuts on his shoulder and arm that were still bleeding. Those cuts were taken care of quickly enough as well, the diva then gathering up everything she'd used, taking the cotton balls she'd used with the peroxide to the same biohazard container she'd thrown the glass into, the woman glancing over her shoulder to see that Seth Rollins was already putting away the rest of the band-aids, the peroxide, and the antibacterial cream she'd used.

"Thanks," she said with a nod as she went over to grab the trash from the band-aids, throwing that away in the regular trash can since she knew there wasn't any blood on any of that, the diva glancing at Seth as she spoke, and the man nodded, then cleared his throat.

"Earlier... Sorry about... If I freaked you out with the moving your hair thing," he said quietly, his voice soft enough that it was likely no one else could tell what he was saying, and Eve shook her head slightly.

"Don't be sorry. It's no big deal. My hair was in the way and you were trying to help," she replied, and Rollins nodded, then stepped back, the man making his way toward the door and out of the room, Eve watching him go, then turning to find CM Punk standing right behind her, the diva jerking in surprise at his nearness. "Geez! Collar and a bell, dude."

"But then I couldn't make you jump like that," he replied, then nodded his head toward the door, holding her things out for her. "We should head out. I'm guessing we're going to try and find everyone else. 'Cause, you know, it will be so much more fun if we have guys like Cena and Ryder around," he said, and she snorted in response.

"Personally, I prefer the company of the Shield," she told him as she took her things from him, and he rolled his eyes as he slung an arm around her shoulder as he guided her toward the door.

"You and me both, Evie. You and me both. But think of it this way. If we find Ryder and Cena, maybe we can convince the Shield to powerbomb them through something. That would be fun."

"Good point."

"I thought so."


	7. Chapter 7

Disclaimer, etc., in part 1.

* * *

Part Seven

The group stood in the hallway just outside the trainers' room, Roman Reigns occasionally poking at the various bandages that Eve had used to cover the worst of his cuts. For her part, Kaitlyn was still looking at the man as if she couldn't believe that he'd pushed her out of the way and taken the brunt of the damage from the falling tree branch himself... The diva cautiously stepping closer to him, her eyes wide as she looked up at the big man.

"I... Thank you for... Just thank you," she finally said, and Reigns nodded, looking uncomfortable enough that Eve almost smiled at the sight.

"You're welcome," the Shield member said after a few moments, and then Dean Ambrose cleared his throat, the man lifting the flashlight he held in his hand and shining it up and down the hallway, though he did manage to keep it aimed low enough that he wasn't shining the light in any of their faces.

"Where to now?" he asked. "Do we keep searching, or do we take a break and drop our stuff off somewhere? We found a room earlier. Some kind of office or lounge area that should be a decent place to hang out in tonight. We could go there, drop our stuff, then some of us go look for the others while the rest stay and guard our gear."

"Guard our gear? You really think someone's going to run around stealing stuff? We know everybody that's here," Kaitlyn said, frowning a bit, and Ambrose sent her a look, the man arching a brow at her.

"Yeah. So? There's thirteen of us here, and most of us have at least one enemy here... Pretty much everyone but Lilian has an enemy here tonight," the man said, shooting a brief look at the ring announcer as he spoke, then turning his attention back to the Houston native. "And to be really honest, I can picture Ryder as the kind of guy to dig through a woman's things and steal her panties or something. He just seems the type."

"Him and TSA agents," Eve muttered, then shrugged when the others looked at her. "What? It happened to Kelly once before. So, obviously it was a little while ago since she's no longer with the company and she and I are no longer friends, but... It did happen. And if it wasn't TSA, it was some guy in the baggage department or something. And it wasn't just one pair. It was all of them."

"That is disgusting," Kaitlyn said.

"You don't have to tell me," she said, then looked over at Ambrose. "I totally agree with leaving a couple of people behind to guard our things. It just makes sense, because even if they don't want to steal anything, they may want to mess with them. I am not having my ring gear dropped in a toilet or something because Zack Ryder is an immature douchebag."

"Yeah, what Eve said," Punk put in, then gestured down the hallway. "So, you know... Lead on to whatever this place you found is. We're wasting time just standing around and talking about it," the WWE champion said, and instead of making some cutting remark in reply, Ambrose just aimed his flashlight down the hallway and started to walk, leading the group away from the trainers' room. Once again, Rollins brought up the rear, the man still holding the second flashlight, and Eve found herself walking just a few feet ahead of the man, Punk once more at her side, the two of them trailing behind Paul Heyman. For their part, Lilian and Kaitlyn were just behind Ambrose, Roman Reigns just behind the two divas... Kaitlyn sending several quick glances over her shoulder at the big man. She didn't look afraid, though, but Eve wasn't sure what to make of the look on the younger diva's face. Maybe she was still just surprised by and grateful for Reigns's actions earlier.

Ambrose led them through a few twists and turns in the seeming labyrinth of hallways this arena's backstage area had, Eve trying to map out where they were in her mind as they walked. The place looked different in the near-dark, though, so she wasn't always completely sure where they were, though she figured it out by the time they'd gotten to the room that the member of the Shield was leading them toward.

The man shoved the door open as they reached the lounge, the group of them filing past him one-by-one as they entered the room... It had a desk in it, which explained why Dean had referred to it as an office earlier, but she could see why he'd also called it something of a lounge area as well. In addition to the desk, the room had a couch and a couple of recliners, along with various other chairs. There was a table at the far end of the room that held a case of bottled water... Likely the water that Ambrose had mentioned to her earlier when she'd told him that her bag was full of snacks. Making her way over to the table, she hefted the bag full of snacks up onto it, then unzipped the bag and started taking things out.

"What the hell did you do? Knock over a vending machine?" Kaitlyn wanted to know as she watched Eve pull out various snack-bags of chips, candy bars, cookies, and other various things. The divas' champion snorted and shook her head.

"Not exactly. We bought a bunch of stuff before the lights went out. Paul had plenty of ones," she said, sending a look toward the man, and he rolled his eyes.

"You should just be grateful I had it," he told her, and Eve shrugged as she pulled out the packs of 'emergency crackers' that she'd already had in her bag anyway... Both peanut butter crackers, and some crackers that came with spreadable cheese. Not exactly gourmet, but enough to curb the munchies in an emergency.

"Anyway... We should have plenty here, which is good because if the rest of you are anything like me and Punk, you ate an early dinner before the show tonight and probably hadn't had anything since."

"Technically we had cotton candy, actually," Punk reminded her, and the diva rolled her eyes.

"Yes, because you insisted, and cotton candy is nothing but sugar anyway," she replied, then stepped back from the table, though she grabbed a little snack-pack of Fig Newtons as she did so. "Anyway... Feel free to grab a snack if you want one."

"And we've got water, too," Ambrose said, gesturing as he spoke. "We found a case left behind in catering. I know it's not like we're stuck here more than overnight, but still... We figured we'd want something to drink at some point."

"I've got a couple of bottles of water in my bag, too. A case would have twenty-four, plus mine... That should be enough for everyone to have a couple of bottles of water if they want it," Lilian stated as she came further into the room, carefully putting her bags in one corner... Kaitlyn quickly going over and doing the same. Frowning slightly, the younger woman made her way over to where Eve had spread all the snacks out on the table, the woman reaching out and grabbing a snack-sized bag of chips, glancing over at Eve as she did so. Eve shrugged as she saw the question in Kaitlyn's eyes.

"I wouldn't have put it all out there if I didn't mean for people to eat it," she replied, pulling a Diet Coke from her bag, noting that it was still fairly cool. "We mostly just raided the snack machines, not the soda ones, so aside from a couple of soft drinks, there's nothing like that."

"If we run out of water, I've got some sports drinks in my bag," Rollins put in, gesturing towards the corner where several bags were up against the wall; they obviously belonged to the men of the Shield. "We can always go check the catering area to see if there's more water or something there."

Eve nodded. "It wouldn't be a bad idea. We probably won't need it, though," she said, taking her bag - which was far less stuffed and a bit lighter now that she'd taken all the snacks out of it - and heading over to put her things in the same corner that Paul and Punk had put theirs. Shrugging, she turned to face the others again. "We're just supposed to be stuck here tonight," the diva said, digging her phone out of her pocket and turning it on, quickly checking the time before turning it back off again, putting it back in her pocket. "It's already close to midnight. We'll have to wait for them to clear the roads in the morning, but still... Hopefully we won't be here too long."

"Place this far north is probably more prepared to clean up after a snowstorm than other places are," Ambrose said, the man making his way over and snagging a bag of chips. "So... If we're heading out to find the others, who's staying here? And how do we divide up the lights?"

"Paul's reading light can be hooked to something. We could leave it with whoever's here," Punk said, and Lilian nodded.

"I actually have a reading light in my purse, too. I never use it, so... We can have two in here, then the flashlights are with whoever goes to find the others."

"We can do two groups. Head out, then come back in half an hour to check in," Rollins said, and the others nodded.

"Works for me," Punk stated, and Eve frowned slightly, the diva figuring that neither member of the Shield was going to give up his flashlight, which meant that splitting up would mean whoever was going out to find the others would be choosing which member of the Shield they wanted to walk around with. Not one to stay behind, Eve figured she'd rather be part of one of the groups looking for the others, and despite the fact that Ambrose hadn't behaved badly since they'd joined up, she knew which member of the Shield she'd be more comfortable walking around with. Shooting a look at Punk that would hopefully keep him from arguing, the woman stepped toward Seth.

"I'll go with Rollins," she said, noting the flicker of surprise on the man's face, the frown on Punk's... Though Punk simply nodded, knowing better than to say anything about it... Even if he had said earlier that if the group split up, she stayed with him.

"Okay. Then I'm with Ambrose. If they want to, Lilian, Kaitlyn, Reigns, and Paul can all stay here. We probably don't need more than two people per group."

"Works for me," Heyman said, and while Reigns looked like he was considering arguing, a look from Ambrose had the man nodding in agreement. Both Kaitlyn and Lilian looked a bit relieved, probably because they were tired of wandering around in the arena in the dark.

"Well, that's settled then," Eve stated, shooting a look at Ambrose. "Half an hour?"

"Half an hour," the man agreed, and Eve nodded, then looked over at Rollins.

"Then let's go," she said, heading for the door, Rollins following close behind her, the woman all too aware of all the eyes that were on her as she walked out... Especially the eyes of CM Punk.


	8. Chapter 8

Disclaimer, etc., in part 1. Thanks again for all the reviews! :)

* * *

Part Eight

"Half an hour!"

Eve and Rollins turned at the sound of the voice, the diva meeting CM Punk's eyes as he gazed down the hallway toward them. He held up his phone, making a show of looking at the time, and Eve nodded.

"Half an hour. Which we already agreed to," she said, and the WWE champion nodded, then shot a look at Rollins.

"Don't be late."

"We won't be," the younger man replied before turning and heading off down the hallway, Eve shooting one last look at her friend before hurrying to join Seth, not wanting him to turn a corner and cause her to lose sight of him and the light from the flashlight he held. Falling into step beside the wrestler, she shot a side-long look at him.

"Sorry. Punk can just be... Protective. He's a good friend. And it's not that he doesn't trust you. It's just-"

"That he doesn't trust me," Rollins broke in, smiling slightly as he glanced over at her. "I'm surprised he let you leave with me, actually. Not that I plan to try anything... I don't. I just... Earlier he said that if we split up, you were staying with him, so..."

"But that was earlier. And none of you guys have tried to pull anything since we all joined up. On top of that, while I don't personally think you're going to try anything, I'm also aware that I have a few potential ways of getting away from you if you did," the diva said, then frowned when she realized that Rollins had suddenly stopped, Eve turning to look up at him. "What? Did I say something?"

"I don't hurt women," Seth Rollins said quietly, evenly, his eyes on hers as he spoke. "None of us... That's not our thing. I'm not saying that if some crazy lady attacked me I wouldn't defend myself... I would. I have that right. But I'm not going to attack a woman."

Eve nodded. "Okay. And for the record... As I've already said, I don't think you're going to attack me. I wouldn't have walked off with you if I did," she told him, then nodded toward the dark hallway behind her. "Are we going to go and search for the others or not?"

"That's what we're supposed to be doing," Rollins said, some of the tension leaving his shoulders at the easy acceptance Eve had given his words, the man once again next to her as they started walking down the hallway again. The man glanced over at her again before speaking. "How long do you really think we're going to be stuck here?"

"I don't know. It all depends on how long the storm lasts and how easily they can clear the streets after the storm. I guess the big question is going to be where some of our coworkers ended up tonight. It would not be good to be stuck out in this mess," the diva said, shuddering at the thought of it. From what they'd seen earlier, the snow had been coming down hard enough and the wind had been violent enough to cause white-out conditions on the roads. Not to mention any ice causing people to slip and slide... And then when the accumulation of snow got deep enough...

"It's definitely a mess out there. Hopefully Booker had some people calling around telling everyone to find a place to stay for the night as soon as possible," Seth said as they came to an intersection of hallways, the man looking over at her as they stopped. "Which way?"

The divas' champion shrugged. "Left?" she suggested in a questioning tone, and Rollins nodded, turning in that direction, Eve falling into step beside him, the woman not even noticing that she'd moved closer to him until she felt her arm brush against his. Quickly, she took a step to the side to put a little more distance between them, the woman frowning as she glanced around. "Arenas are a lot creepier in the dark, just so you know."

"All the equipment still in the halls. Makes for some creepy shadows," the man replied, reaching out to grab her arm and pull her a couple steps to the left to keep her from getting her feet tangled in some cords that were bunched up on the floor. "Looks like people didn't really finish cleaning up before they left tonight."

"Probably in a rush because of the storm. I would have been, too, had I known about it," Eve stated, scowling slightly at the thought of why she'd ended up staying so late. If the paperwork Booker had wanted her to fax had actually been completed like Teddy had told the SmackDown GM it was, then she and Punk and Paul would have gotten out of the arena a lot earlier... Of course, if that had happened, then they might have ended up stuck out in the storm, which was worse than being stuck in the arena overnight. At least in the arena, they were relatively safe. Any number of bad things could have happened if they'd been stuck out on the road.

"Might be better not to have known, then. Better to be stuck here than stuck on some freeway somewhere," Rollins told her, and Eve nodded as they continued walking down the hallway, Seth continuing to shine the light into the rooms they passed to see if any of the others were in there.

"That's what I was just thinking. Guess it's a good thing that Teddy Long left all that paperwork for me to fill out. Even if he is still an ass who can't stand it when a woman's smarter than him."

"I figure that, deep down, he's still pissed that Booker's the General Manager instead of him," Seth stated, the man pausing in the doorway to one of the larger rooms and sending the beam of light around, Eve frowning slightly as he did so.

"I wonder how good those batteries are?" she mused, and he shrugged.

"Not sure. We found some extras with them, so we've got enough to change them if we have to," Seth said, patting the side of his jacket as he spoke, leaving Eve to assume that was where he had the batteries stashed away. "Of course, trying to change them in total darkness could be interesting..."

"We could use the light from my phone if it comes to that," the diva replied, then closed her eyes, shaking her head.

"What? Did you leave your phone back with the others?" he asked, and Eve shook her head, reaching into her pocket to pull her phone out.

"No, I've got it. I just realized that I'm an idiot."

"That is not a word I've ever actually heard used in conjunction with you," Seth told her, and Eve smiled slightly at that, the woman holding up her phone.

"I'd totally forgotten about it, but last time I went to visit my parents, my mother convinced me to download the flashlight app to my phone, just in case and all of that. So if yours goes out... We can use my phone while you replace the batteries. Or, you know, just use my phone," she said with a shrug. "I should have thought of it sooner. It gives us more lights."

"Which is good. But if we're stuck here for too long... We might want to save it until we need it. Do you have your phone on?" he asked, and she shook her head.

"I turned it on to check the time once or twice, but otherwise, I've left it off. You don't get reception in most of these arenas, and I figured it would be a good idea to save the battery since I can't exactly charge it right now."

"Good thinking," Seth replied, gesturing with the flashlight that it was time to move on, and Eve nodded, the diva walking alongside him again, actually a couple of steps ahead... The woman letting out a yelp when she turned a corner and nearly walked into someone. The person she'd almost walked into immediately reached out and grabbed her arms, keeping her on her feet... Seth quickly reaching out to grab her jacket, tugging her back toward him, the man making sure that he was between her and whoever it was that they'd found.

Randy Orton blinked against the light of Seth's flashlight, the man lifting his hands as if in surrender. "Can you shine the light somewhere other than my eyes?" he wanted to know, blinking again as Seth shifted the beam of light away from his face, the man then arching a brow as he saw who was standing in front of him. "Huh. I knew that was Eve that I'd run into, so I figured you would be Punk. Guess I was wrong."

"Punk's with Ambrose. We figured we would look for everyone else since the lights are out. Maybe get everyone together," Eve stated, a little curious as to how Orton had figured out it was her... Though the fact was, she was the tallest of the women that were still stuck at the arena tonight, and her heeled boots gave her more height on Lilian and Kaitlyn than she would usually have. And maybe there had been enough light for him to see her a little; she didn't really know.

"If Punk's with Ambrose, where's Reigns?" Orton wanted to know, looking around as if he expected an ambush or something, and Eve shook her head.

"He's not with us. He's back where we left our stuff. Lilian, Kaitlyn, and Paul are all with him. We've got a case of bottled water and plenty of snacks. We know this isn't ideal, but we figure if we are all on our best behavior..."

"I don't play well with others," Orton said, and Eve rolled her eyes.

"Yeah, I know. But it's just one night, Randy. And it would be best if we know where everyone is. Once we get everyone accounted for, you can go to one of the neighboring offices or something and away from the rest of us. Okay?" she offered, and the man eyed her for a moment, then looked over her shoulder at Rollins, the man then stepping back, reaching up to adjust the strap of his bag on his shoulder, then shrugging.

"Yeah, okay. I'll go. For now. So lead the way."


	9. Chapter 9

Disclaimer, etc., in part 1. Thanks to all that have reviewed/favorited/followed this one. :-) I really appreciate it.

* * *

Part Nine

Kaitlyn twisted the wrapper of the snack-sized bag of chips she'd eaten, the diva still shooting occasional glances in the direction of Roman Reigns - but trying not to be obvious about it, because she really didn't want to be caught looking at a member of the Shield... For his part, Reigns was sitting quietly in one of the chairs in the room, an over-sized recliner that seemed a little out of place in what seemed to be a waiting area for an office. Or maybe it was some sort of break room for the people that worked there on a day-to-day basis... or something. She didn't know; she was just grateful that the room existed, because it was probably a lot more comfortable than most of the other rooms in the place that were big enough to accommodate them all. Even if she wasn't sure she and Lilian would stay in it with the others once everyone had been found. It all kind of depended on who ended up where.

"How long have they been gone?" Lilian asked quietly, the blonde ring announcer sitting next to her on the floor in front of the couch, and before Kaitlyn could pull out her phone to look - she wasn't wearing a watch - Paul Heyman, who was wearing a watch, responded.

"About twenty minutes," the man stated, frowning a little as he spoke, and Kaitlyn kind of got the feeling he was keeping a close eye on the time. If the look on CM Punk's face had been any indication, the WWE champion hadn't been too thrilled that Eve had decided to wander off with a member of the Shield, and if Punk didn't like it, Kaitlyn figured that Heyman probably didn't like it, either. Whatever their relationship - and it seemed so far that they were just friends - CM Punk certainly seemed protective of the current divas' champion. Truth was, Kaitlyn kind of wondered what it would be like to have someone that was so concerned about her... It had been awhile since she'd had someone like that.

As she considered that fact, her gaze slid toward Roman Reigns again, the woman quickly looking away when her eyes actually met those of Reigns this time, the man having looked over at her at the same time she'd looked at him. Or maybe it wasn't that he'd just happened to look when she did... Maybe he'd been looking before, and she just hadn't noticed, or...

"Do you think half an hour is really long enough for them to find any of the others?" Kaitlyn asked then, her voice seeming too loud in the room, and she wasn't sure if that was because she'd just spoken in a normal voice when the others seemed to be barely doing more than whispering, or if she really had somehow spoken more loudly than she normally would.

"If they don't find them this time, they can go out again. Maybe different groups or something," Reigns said after a moment. "Doesn't hurt them to check in. I wouldn't put it past Cena and Ryder to try and jump somebody."

"Ambrose has Punk with him. They could probably handle themselves if that happened," Kaitlyn stated, though she really didn't see the two of them attacking Punk and Ambrose. The Shield had actually steered clear of those two so far, so they didn't have any reason to attack. Orton, Kane, and Daniel Bryan on the other hand... Kaitlyn shrugged. "Plus, Rollins is with Eve. They wouldn't hurt a woman-"

"Yeah. Because John Cena is such a fine, upstanding young man and has never done his finishing move on a woman before... Oh, wait. Except he has. More than once that I can recall," Heyman said with a snort, and Kaitlyn shifted a bit uncomfortably at that because, while it had been years ago and long before she'd been on the roster - or even actually learning to wrestle - she knew that Heyman was right. Cena *had* done his finishing move on a diva before. Not to mention the fact that Kane had actually terrorized Eve for awhile... And while he was doing okay right now as Daniel Bryan's tag team partner, he could be a really scary bastard when he wanted to be.

"Well, hopefully everyone here tonight knows that picking fights and trying to attack each other will just make an already difficult situation even worse," Kaitlyn said after a long moment, the diva rising to her feet and going over to the trash can to throw the trash from her chips away... Then jerking when the door suddenly swung open. All of them turned to see who it was, not sure if someone else had found them or if it was one of the other groups coming back...

Seth Rollins smirked a little as he looked over the group in the room. "No offense, but most of you looked like you expected Freddy Krueger to walk into the room or something. You been telling scary stories or something while we were gone?"

"Hadn't thought to do that one yet," Kaitlyn replied. "It's just kind of creepy in an unfamiliar place with hardly any lights... And not knowing where everyone is."

"Well, we found one more person at least," Eve said as she stepped inside, slipping around Seth as she did so, the man quickly getting out of the way to let another person into the room. Kaitlyn blinked in surprise as she saw Randy Orton standing there, the man glancing around before stepping inside and dropping his stuff in the corner.

"Eve and Rollins said we were trying to make sure that everyone's accounted for. I'll stick around until then, but after that... I might head to another room. I'm not big on hanging out with crowds."

"Don't worry. We won't be offended if you don't stick around," Reigns spoke up from his spot seated in one of the recliners... Though he wasn't really 'reclining' or anything. Instead, he was leaning forward in his seat, his elbows on his knees, and his eyes on Orton as if daring the older man to make any sort of a move that he didn't like. The look that Orton gave the member of the Shield in return didn't really bode well for a peaceful time, but then Randy frowned suddenly, lifting a hand and gesturing toward Roman's face.

"What the hell happened to you?" he wanted to know, and Reigns shrugged a bit stiffly, looking uncomfortable.

"Glass broke. I got cut," he finally replied, and Kaitlyn was pretty sure she saw Seth Rollins - who had gone over and grabbed a pack of cookies off the snack table - smirk at the not-exactly-informative response.

"We were on the first-level concourse looking for everyone else when a tree came down. It broke the glass, and Roman pushed Kaitlyn out of the way of it," Lilian elaborated, and Orton's eyes widened in surprise at that, the man looking over at Kaitlyn and arching a brow.

"You okay?"

"I'm fine. Thanks to Roman," she replied, almost stumbling over his name because she wasn't sure how he would feel about her using his first name - maybe he preferred people that didn't really know him to use his last name instead - but the man didn't say anything about it, instead taking a drink from the water bottle that he'd grabbed earlier.

Orton nodded at that, then looked around. "You went to the windows, huh? So how bad did it look out there?" he wanted to know, and Eve shrugged.

"Probably white-out conditions, or close to it. Lots of snow, lots of wind. Couldn't see beyond the immediate area of the arena. No lights beyond the emergency ones around the arena. Not surprising, really, since the electricity is off. Of course, sometimes power outages are localized enough that you can see other places that do have power, but... I didn't see anything like that when we were on the concourse. It was too hard to see anything out there. We're probably lucky that we ended up stuck in the arena for the night. Lucky that none of us left before Booker made that phone call," the divas champion said, making her way over to the snack table and glancing at the contents before shrugging and turning away from it. "Granted, none of us felt lucky at the time..."

"At least we have a pretty sturdy roof over our heads and all of that," Rollins put in, polishing off the first of the cookies from the bag he'd grabbed. "I know we were early getting back - we came back as soon as we found Orton - but how much longer before Dean and Punk are officially late getting back?"

"They've got a few more minutes," Heyman stated. "And I'm sure that CM Punk won't let them be late," the man said, sliding a glance at Eve as he spoke, making it clear that he figured Punk wouldn't let his group be late because he wanted to check on the diva's champion, and the diva rolled her eyes.

"I got back fine. Safe and sound. Seth and I wandered around until we found Orton, then we came back. Not a big deal, Paul," the woman stated, shaking her head as she spoke, pushing herself away from the table she was standing at. The diva opened her mouth to speak again... Then abruptly snapped it shut once more as the door swung open again, the light of the flashlight coming into the room first, and then the trail of men... Four instead of two, meaning that Dean and Punk had found someone else... Well, two someones, actually. And despite the fact that she knew that they'd all decided that everyone should be together - or at least know where everyone else was - Eve couldn't help the groan that slipped from her lips as the glare from Ambrose's flashlight shifted and the diva saw who it was that was with the men.

John Cena and Zack Ryder.


	10. Chapter 10

Disclaimer in part 1.

Thanks again to all that have reviewed/favorited/followed this one.

* * *

Part Ten

Eve arched a brow, sending a look in the direction of CM Punk. "Couldn't you have brought someone else with you?" she asked, and while Punk snorted, Ambrose arched a brow at her.

"Looks to me like the only 'someone elses' left out there are Kane and Daniel Bryan. And didn't Kane, like, terrorize you for awhile last year?"

"He did."

"And Daniel Bryan skipped out on you during a mixed tag."

"He did. Still prefer their company to these two," Eve said sweetly, drawing something of a smile from Ambrose, but Zack had that look on his face that he got right before he said something really rude and inappropriate - something he thought was hilarious - but he stopped himself when CM Punk moved to stand right in front of him, the WWE champion staring the other man down. Apparently, the somewhat evil look that Punk was able to bring to his face pretty much at will was enough to convince Zack to shut up for the moment. Well, either that, or he remembered Punk kicking him in the head earlier and didn't want to have a repeat of it.

"Can't say as I blame you. Putting up with that one is enough to make someone want to stab themselves in the eye," Dean finally said, gesturing to Ryder as he spoke, though the look he gave Cena wasn't exactly friendly, either. Actually, Punk and Cena weren't giving each other very friendly looks, either, which made Eve kind of wonder what had been said amongst the men when they'd run into each other. Of course, part of her was also pretty sure that she didn't *want* to know what had been said. Since Ryder and Cena knew that she and Punk had been at the arena together, and his reaction to Zack's comment about her had been a kick to the head, proving they could use talking smack about her to get to him, whatever they'd said to the WWE champion had probably at least partly been about her.

"Then we'll make sure you have sharp implements around then so you can act on the urge," Cena said in reply to Dean's comment, and Ambrose gave him a look that Eve couldn't see, but it was apparently enough that it made even John Cena take a step back.

"Actually, I'd just stab Ryder in the eye. The pain of it would probably convince him that shutting up would be a good idea. And if it didn't, at least it would amuse me," the man said before turning and heading toward the table with the snacks and the water, grabbing a bottle of water and a candy bar, then hitching himself up so that he was sitting on the edge of the table. He shot a look at Orton, who was so far remaining silent since the others had come back, then turned toward Eve and Seth. "Did you run into any problems out there?" he wanted to know.

"None. We found Orton, told him the plan, and he came back with us. No issues, and everyone behaved themselves," Rollins replied, leaning his shoulder against the wall, the man still holding his flashlight, though he had turned it off for the moment. Lilian and Heyman's book lights were both on, as was Dean's flashlight and, even though it wasn't much light, there was still enough to more or less see each other, and it was no use wasting batteries by leaving all the lights on all the time. Even if they did have extra sets of batteries. Better not to use the lights unless they really had to.

"Good to know," Dean said, and Orton frowned, the man crossing his arms over his chest before speaking.

"So what now? We still going to go and look for Daniel Bryan and Kane?" he wanted to know, his gaze moving over the group in the room. While he looked nowhere near as hostile as Cena and Ryder did, he still seemed a bit uncomfortable about the fact that all three members of the Shield were now there, and Eve supposed she could understand that. After all, the trio of men had attacked him before, actually messing up his shoulder, if she remembered correctly. There was no way he was going to be at ease around them.

Ambrose took a bite of his candy bar. "That's the plan, I guess. Find out where everyone is. Make sure they didn't get trapped somewhere when the lights when out," the man said, then gestured toward the others. "Most of them were in the stands when we found them, which wouldn't have made for a fun night. No clue where Kane and Bryan would be, though."

"Yeah, because if you knew, you'd probably attack them or something," Ryder said, and Ambrose gave him a look.

"I didn't attack you, did I? No, I didn't. Which means they're safe, too, because if I was going to attack anyone right now, it would be you. Because you're being a pain in my ass," the man said, casually continuing to eat the candy bar as he spoke, though there was something menacing enough about his gaze that Zack took a step back, causing Eve to smile. She still thought Dean Ambrose was a very dangerous man, but at least right now, he wasn't dangerous to her. Truth was, none of the men of the Shield had gone after any of the women in the company, and nothing she'd seen tonight would indicate that they ever would. After all, Seth Rollins had flat-out told her that he didn't hurt women, and from the look on his face when he said it, she believed him. Plus there was the whole way that Roman Reigns had protected Kaitlyn from that glass and tree branch not so long ago... An act that had left him with several cuts and likely a few bruises.

"So, uh... Who goes looking for Kane and Daniel?" Kaitlyn piped up then, the woman twisting a ring around her finger as she spoke, a frown on her face as she looked around the room. It was clear that the younger diva didn't care for the change in atmosphere since Ryder and Cena had shown up, and Eve didn't really blame her. The tension had seriously increased once the two had walked in with Punk and Ambrose. Before they'd shown up, things had seemed pretty calm, even when she and Seth had returned with Orton.

Ambrose shrugged his shoulders, taking another bite of the candy bar, then balling up the wrapper and tossing it toward the trash, easily making the basket despite the fact that he was several feet away. Eve smiled slightly at the sight, mostly because she remembered Zack trying to 'impress' her by doing something... And repeatedly missing, even when he'd moved closer and was only a few feet away. She'd ended up laughing at his lack of skill and Zack had tried to play it off as a joke, but she'd been able to tell from the look on his face that he was annoyed. The look on his face now told her that Ryder was jealous of the fact that Ambrose was actually capable of making the throw.

"I'll go," the Shield member said, arching a brow as he looked around. "Don't really care who goes with me."

Lilian Garcia glanced around then, her gaze moving over the tense faces of some of the others - mostly Cena and Ryder - and then the ring announcer got to her feet. "I'll go, too," she announced, and even Ambrose looked more than a little surprised at that one, likely because he didn't figure the petite blonde woman would ever voluntarily go somewhere with him... Especially since right now it seemed like it could be just the two of them-

"What the hell, I'll go, too," Orton said, pushing himself away from the wall as he spoke, making his way over to where Lilian stood, and Eve kind of got the feeling that Orton was mostly going so that Lilian wouldn't be alone with a member of the Shield. Which was nice, she supposed, but Eve wasn't sure it was really necessary.

Ambrose nodded slightly at the other man's statement, arching a brow as he made his way toward the door, flashlight in hand. "Well, this should be exciting," the man said with a smirk, reaching out to pull the door open, indicating that the others should head out first... Ambrose giving them all a look as he paused in the doorway. "If we don't find them in, say... forty-five minutes, we'll come back without 'em. Now y'all don't do anything I wouldn't do," he said before he headed out, and Rollins let out a snort.

"Please. Like there's anything Dean wouldn't do," the man muttered with a shake of his head, pushing himself away from the wall as well, his gaze moving over those that were left in the room. The tension was still pretty high, what with Ryder and Cena in the room, but it had lessened slightly once Dean had left. For his part, CM Punk had moved so that he was close to Eve, and Rollins stepped forward as well, making sure that he was between Eve and the pair of Cena and Ryder. Flipping his flashlight back on, he gripped it tightly.

"We don't want any trouble. We're stuck here together, and we have to make the best of it," Seth stated, and Cena gave him a look.

"Why the hell should we trust you guys not to start something?"

"We could have just left you guys to wander in the dark, but we didn't. As I said, we're stuck here. And the Shield isn't going to start something while ladies are present-"

Zack snorted. "With Lilian out walking around right now, the only lady I see present it Kaitlyn. Eve's no lady, she's-"

Rollins flipped the flashlight in his hand so that he was gripping it closer to the actual light, the man holding the long end of it up and glaring at Zack. "You finish that sentence, and I'll knock you out with this light."

"I thought you weren't going to start anything."

"You say it, then you started it. I'll just finish it with one solid hit. Your buddy Cena might try to stop me from doing it, but I think Roman and Punk could hold him back. You keep your trap shut, and we'll let you stay conscious. Got it?" he snapped out, not waiting for an answer before he stepped back, turning away from Zack... Definitely intending to insult the man by turning away from him like he wasn't a threat. Arching a brow, Rollins looked at the others. "So? Any ideas on what to do while we wait?"

"I am not playing Truth or Dare," Kaitlyn declared, and Seth smiled slightly.

"Wasn't suggesting it," he said, and the diva shrugged.

"I have a couple decks of cards in my bag. We could kill time that way," she suggested, and the others looked at each, Punk shrugging.

"Nothin' better to do."

"Strip poker?" Ryder put in, eyeing both women in the room, and Eve let out a snort. The guy was unbelievable. He spent his spare time trying to come up with more insults to call her, and yet he still suggested strip poker... Even though she and Kaitlyn were the only women in the room and there were half a dozen guys there. Not to mention the fact that Seth had actually just gotten done threatening him. Idiot.

"Yeah, that's not going to happen," she said, and he made a face.

"Why not?"

"Because, Zack, you suck at cards, and no one wants to see you naked."


	11. Chapter 11

Disclaimer, etc., in part 1.

Thanks to all that have reviewed/followed/favorited this one.

Just a side note, since this has come up - no, people are not going to start dying. This isn't a horror story. It's listed as drama. So, yeah. No bloody, gory deaths, or even ridiculous Darwin Award-winning ones. (Though I was a little tempted by the ridiculous Darwin Award-winning ones...)

And on with the story.

* * *

Part Eleven

"Wow, this looks like quite the party... Only, you know... Not."

Eve looked up at the sound of Dean Ambrose's voice, the woman stopping in her efforts to stop CM Punk from cheating so blatantly at cards in order to do so, her gaze quickly moving past the man who had spoken and instead looking toward the others that were with him... A group of 'others' that included not only Lilian and Orton, who had gone with him, but also Kane and Daniel Bryan. Arching a brow, she reached over, took a card away from Punk that the man was trying to sneak into his hand, tossing it back into the pile.

"Looks like the gang's all here," she said, and Lilian rolled her eyes as she stepped further into the room.

"We just followed the sounds of their arguing," the woman said, moving closer to the others, most of whom were seated in a circle on the floor. "What's going on?"

"CM Punk is cheating at cards. I think Rollins might be, too, but he's much sneakier about it. I haven't actually caught him at it yet," Kaitlyn said, the diva popping a few Skittles in her mouth as she spoke.

"It's not cheating if you don't get caught," Seth replied, the man smiling as he showed his hand... Winning yet again. He'd won almost every round they'd played, aside from a couple where Punk had managed to cheat a bit more successfully. Paul Heyman, it seemed, was just trying for the worst hand possible. For his part, Zack Ryder really did suck at cards and John Cena wasn't much better. Kaitlyn had been using a second deck of cards to play solitaire while Eve had been trying to keep Punk from cheating too much, and Roman Reigns had simply been watching it all. The big man was the only one that hadn't joined the group on the floor, instead still sitting in the recliner. Even Heyman had joined them on the floor, though he'd moaned and groaned a bit while doing so.

Gathering up the cards but not yet bothering to deal another hand, Rollins looked over at the group that had just entered the room. "Followed the arguing, huh? Isn't that basically how Eve said we would find them back when we first started looking? Guess she was right."

"We weren't arguing. We were discussing things loudly," Daniel Bryan declared, the man glaring at the room in general and the men of the Shield a bit more specifically. Not really surprising, considering the problems he'd had with the group. After all, the Shield's first match on the WWE's main roster had been against Team Hell No and Ryback... And not only had the Shield won, but Daniel Bryan had been the one pinned for his team. Kane had actually been buried under various pieces of barricade, Spanish announce table, and chairs at the time, so he wasn't exactly a big fan of the trio of men, either.

"Well, at least we've found everybody," Punk said, the man reaching beneath one of the cushions on the couch he was leaning against, pulling out a couple of cards, then tossing them to Rollins, who merely shook his head and smirked. Kaitlyn arched a brow at the WWE champion.

"You know, if you end up losing or tearing up one of my decks of cards, you're buying me news ones. The same kind, too," she told him, and Punk reached out, grabbing one of the cards from the deck, studying it.

"Yeah. I never knew they made decks of cards with the Simpsons on them."

Eve rolled her eyes, taking the card from him, then handing it back to Rollins, who still held the rest of the deck. "They make cards with just about everything on them, I think," the diva said, and Zack smiled at that, nodding.

"Yeah. I got a deck of cards with Playboy models on them. Those things are awesome," Ryder said, and Eve smiled sweetly.

"I'm guessing that you don't let anyone else near the cards, though. I'm sure they're probably... a little sticky by now," the divas' champion said, and while Zack glared at her, several of the others laughed, including Kaitlyn and Lilian, something that Ryder definitely didn't seem to appreciate. The guy's ego was way too fragile to deal with being laughed at by women... Especially attractive ones.

"I don't need a deck of cards to-"

"Please. It's probably the closest that you've gotten to a naked woman... Without paying her, of course," Eve stated, and Ryder deliberately looked her up and down... Well, as best he could given the fact that the divas' champion was currently seated cross-legged on the floor next to CM Punk.

"Like I couldn't have had you if I really wanted to-"

Eve laughed. Not a fake laugh, a real laugh that made it clear that she actually found his words amusing... and more than a little unbelievable. "Please. Seriously? You really think...? Oh, that's funny. You never had a chance with me. Ever. You chased me for months, and the closest contact you ever had with me? Was when I kicked you in the balls at WrestleMania. I was nice to you for awhile because I felt sorry for you. You were never getting out of the friend zone, because I never thought of you that way."

Cena sneered at her. "So instead you tried to use me-"

"Oh, I used you, all right. I used you, and I used the Bella twins in order to get you two out of my life. Do you know what I got by being around you two? What exactly it was that I got from Zack following me around like a damned puppy dog and not taking 'I have to wash my hair that night' or 'I have to paint my ceilings' as a hint that I had to no interest in him?" Eve wanted to know, the woman glaring daggers at Cena and Ryder now, the good humor gone... Everyone else sitting quietly, waiting to see exactly where this would go. Arching a brow, the divas' champion continued. "What I got from hanging around with the two of you... was terrorized. My matches were interrupted, I was practically stalked in the ring, I was cornered in the divas' locker room, and I was chased into an ambulance and almost kidnapped," she declared, and while Daniel Bryan sent Kane a dirty look at that - because they all knew who had actually done those things to the diva - the Big Red Machine looked down at the ground, then cleared his throat.

"Yeah. About that... My bad," he said, and Eve barely spared the man a look before turning his attention back to Zack and Cena.

"The last straw was when I was cornered in the locker room. You remember that night, don't you? Oh, wait... That's right, John. You weren't even there that night. You were promoting some race or something and apparently didn't care about the fact that I'd already been targeted more than once. So yeah, I used you. I used your ego and complete lack of ability to reason to get you both away from me. I mean... Really, John? You believed the spiel I told the Bella twins? Really? Why would I tell the two of them that anyway? They weren't my friends. They hadn't been my friends in at least a year, which just goes to show how much you don't pay attention. For goodness' sake, I was practically a cartoon villain and you bought it. How stupid is that?" she said, shaking her head.

"If that's so true, why were you so quick to try and get back with me when I came back from my injuries?" Zack demanded, and Eve snorted.

"Saying I tried to 'get back with you' implies I was actually with you at some point, which we both know I wasn't. But you're the one that came out after my match and called me names. You came after me, so I went after you. I just chose a bigger stage to make you look like a fool."

"You are such a bitch."

"Maybe I am. But at least I'm a smart one. And I'm smart enough not to want to get with a guy who sees a woman as nothing more than a status symbol. Which is exactly what you do. When you were chasing after me, so convinced you'd get me - which you were never going to do - you weren't doing the chasing because you actually cared about me. All you cared about was what I look like. The status you would get with some hot piece of ass on your arm. But you never got it. You never got me. And in the end, I made you look like the fool that you are," the woman said, giving Zack and look that dared him to argue and, when he didn't - when he didn't seem able to come up with anything to say - she shook her head, taking a deep breath and looking around, wincing a little when she realized that all eyes were on her. Still shaking her head, the diva got to her feet and headed for the door. "I can't be here right now."

"Eve, wait!" Punk called out, the man starting to get to his feet, but Eve was already out the door, slamming it hard behind her. Sending a nasty look in Ryder's direction, the WWE champion finished standing up, then started to head for the door as well, stopping short when Lilian moved over to stand in front of him. "I don't have time for this, Lilian-"

"I'll go," the ring announcer said, arching a brow at him when it seemed the wrestler was going to protest. "No offense, but... I don't think she wants to deal with anything male right now. She just went off on Ryder, and considering his reaction, she was probably spot-on about why he pursued her anyway, so... She's upset, she's embarrassed or whatever and... Let me go and find her."

"Leave her out there. The bitch started it," Zack said, flinching when Punk immediately turned toward him with a clenched fist... But Ryder was so busy looking at Punk that he missed the fact that Rollins had reached for him as well, which meant that he actually ended up leaning toward the hard smack to the head that the Shield member had aimed his way. "Ow!"

"Shut up. Or the next time I'll actually hit you like I mean it," Rollins told him, shaking his head as he tossed the deck of cards he'd been holding back to Kaitlyn, who accepted them, the woman frowning as she tucked them away in their box, then put them in her bag.

"I hate to say it, but... She did totally make sense right now," the Houston native said, and Cena gave her a look.

"Excuse me?"

"Um... Yeah. Zack was into the idea of Eve, not the actual person... All she got out of hanging with the two of you was scared half to death by a three-hundred pound man, and if she had an evil plan... Why would she tell it to two of the biggest gossips in the company - people who weren't even her friends at the time - unless she expected them to spread the news... Or for her to get caught? So yeah... Sounds like Eve played you, but not in the way you ever thought. Kind of sad that she had to spell it out to you."

Lilian nodded, then turned to Punk. "And on that note, I'm going to go and find her. Give us at least half an hour," the woman said, starting to head for the door, pausing when Dean Ambrose reached up, resting his hand against the door and preventing her from opening it. Shifting nervously, she looked up at the man. "What are you-"

He held out a flashlight. "Take this. Eve didn't have one, and you'll need it. And if you aren't back in thirty minutes? We're coming to look for you. Deal?" he said, and she nodded, reaching out and gingerly taking the flashlight from him.

"Deal."


	12. Chapter 12

Disclaimer, etc., in part 1. Thanks to everyone that has reviewed/favorited/followed this one. Sorry it was so long between updates this time!

* * *

Part Twelve

Lilian paused just outside the door, the woman all too aware of the fact that Dean Ambrose was still standing in the doorway, the man's gaze fixed on her. Biting her lip, the ring announcer glanced first one day down the hall, then the other, trying to figure out where Eve Torres might have gone... Lilian had figured out more or less where in the building they were, and she knew that she was more familiar with the part of the building that was on the left, so Eve probably was, too... But Eve had also been pretty upset when she'd left the room, which likely meant she hadn't been thinking too clearly about which way to go...

"Going left anyway," Lilian muttered to herself, the blonde woman squaring her shoulders before heading off down the hallway, quickly glancing back to reassure herself of the number of the room she needed to find when she and Eve came back. Her gaze briefly met that of Ambrose as she looked back, the man still watching her, though his face was shrouded in shadow to the point where she had no idea what expression he wore, and Lilian gave him a sharp nod before turning and heading out, figuring that wherever she was, Eve probably couldn't have gone far. Especially since the younger woman didn't have a flashlight.

Or maybe she did.

As Lilian turned the corner, she thought she saw a light, and she frowned as she continued to walk, moving slowly, some small part of her tossing out the idea that maybe - just maybe - the thirteen of them weren't the only ones in the arena tonight. The thought sent a shiver down her spine, the ring announcer momentarily thinking about going back and asking someone to come with her... But quickly tossing the thought away. She knew without a doubt that CM Punk would come with her if she asked - more out of his concern for his friend Eve than anything else - but she also stood by her words that right now, Eve did not need some guy coming to find her. Even if the guy was a close friend. So she was going to do this on her own.

Taking a deep breath, the woman continued down the hall, finding the light again... Her shoulders slumping a bit in relief when she realized that the light was coming from a phone and that Eve was the person that held the phone. Stepping carefully, the ring announcer picked her way toward the equipment case that the younger woman was seated on.

"Eve? Are you okay?" she asked, more to make the other woman aware of her presence than anything else... Because she kind of figured that, right now, Eve really wasn't okay.

The diva's champion jerked slightly at the sound of her voice, turning to look at her, wiping at her face even as she did so, letting Lilian know that Eve had likely been crying. "Why wouldn't I be?"

"Because Ryder's a jerk, and sometimes Cena really isn't any better," Lilian replied as she walked over, joining Eve on the equipment case, watching as the younger woman turned off the light on her phone. "Flashlight app?"

Eve nodded. "Yeah. I'd forgotten I even had it downloaded until earlier, when Seth and I were looking for people and ended up finding Orton. Useful little thing... Kind of eats the battery, though," the woman said, then looked down at the flashlight in Lilian's hand. "Where did you get that?"

Lilian shrugged, moving the flashlight from hand to hand, the fact that it was on meaning the light of it was dancing over the wall across from them. Kind of made things a little spooky, but then again... They were in an arena with no lights on in the middle of the night. Of course it was going to be spooky. "Dean Ambrose gave it to me, actually. When I came to find you."

Surprise flickered across Eve's face, visible even in the dim light. "Ambrose gave up his flashlight? Really?"

"He did. I started to go out the door without it, and he stopped me and gave it to me. We have thirty minutes, by the way," Lilian said, then glanced down at her watch, checking the time, something she'd also done before she'd left the room... Something she'd seen Ambrose do as well. "Actually, we have more like twenty-three minutes now. After that, they'll come to find us."

"They?"

"My best guess? CM Punk, definitely. Ambrose, possibly. And if not Ambrose, then Rollins. He hit Ryder after you left. Threatened to hit him like he meant it if he didn't shut up."

Eve gave a non-committal shrug. "Funny, isn't it? How the supposed bad guys are the ones that are behaving the best tonight?" she questioned, and Lilian was silent for a moment, frowning. The truth was, Eve was right. Ambrose hadn't said or done anything untoward when she'd been off with him and Randy to look for Team Hell No... And he'd even handed over his flashlight this time around to keep her from wandering around in the dark. He'd also kept her from tripping earlier... Seth Rollins had stuck up for Eve more than once, and Roman Reigns... Well, he had several cuts as evidence of what he'd done for Kaitlyn. All Zack Ryder had done so far was make a bunch of snide remarks.

"I guess certain situations bring out the best in some people... and the worst in others," Lilian said after a moment. "I know I asked you before, but you didn't really give me an answer. Are you okay, Eve?"

"I'm fine. I just-"

"Finally blew up and told Zack and John how stupid they'd been? Zack for thinking he ever had a chance with you, and Cena for thinking he was such a big shot that *of course* you'd try to use him despite the fact that hanging around with him hadn't brought you anything but grief so far?" Lilian surmised for her, arching a brow when Eve looked over at her. "I was there. I heard you. And just so you know, I wasn't the only person that completely saw what you were saying. Including the part about Ryder just going after you because he liked the idea of you and thought of you as some sort of status symbol or whatever. Kaitlyn totally got it, too. Ryder and Cena are probably the only ones that had trouble getting it."

"Yeah, well, all that hair product has probably seeped into Ryder's brain or whatever... And Cena's just stupid by association," Eve muttered, then looked over at her, curiosity in the younger woman's gaze. "Why you?"

"Excuse me?"

"Why were you the one to come and find me?" the diva wanted to know, and Lilian shrugged.

"I offered. Punk was halfway to the door before I stopped him. I know he's your friend - and obviously protective of you - but I figured that you needed someone to actually talk to more than you needed someone to come out here and rant about how he was going to kick Ryder's ass... Or Cena's ass... Or both, if you prefer," the blonde woman said, and Eve let out a low laugh.

"That does sound about like what Punk would have been saying. He's a good friend, though. He has been off and on for my entire career... Last summer, when he figured out why it was that I'd done what I did when dealing with Zack and Cena and Kane... He felt like a jerk for not figuring it out before. We've been hanging out a lot since August, and we just sort of slid right back into the friendship."

"He seems to really care about you."

"And I care about him," the diva said, then sent Lilian a look. "Just not in that way."

"I didn't say anything."

"Most people would. Not everyone suffers from the 'When Harry Met Sally' syndrome. And for some, if they do, they don't act on it and they get past it, and they stay friends," the brunette said, then gave Lilian a side-long look. "And no, I'm not going to clarify which category Punk and I fall into."

"Wasn't going to ask," Lilian said, though part of her thought that, whether Eve realized it or not, they might just fall into the latter... After all, CM Punk was awfully protective of her. That could be a sign of feelings, right? Or maybe they really were just that close as friends. It wasn't really like it was her place to judge or anything. Sighing, Lilian glanced over at Eve again. "You ready to go back?"

"After spouting off like I did, then storming off? Not really."

"Hey, pretty much everyone seemed to see the logic in what you were saying back there. So at least there's that when you go back... And really... If we don't head back, they're going to come and find us. I mean... Are you ready for Punk and maybe Ambrose or Rollins coming out to find us?" she wanted to know, and Eve made a face.

"Not really."

"Well, if we don't go back, then that's what is going to happen. So we've kind of got two choices... Either we go back and you hold your head high and make it seem like nothing happened - or you don't give a damn that it did - or we wait for Punk and whoever else comes to find us and go back with them... Making it look like I couldn't convince you to come back on my own, which just makes it look like you were more embarrassed or whatever. So... Walk back with me with your head held high, or wait for the guys to find us? What will it be?"

Heaving out a sigh, Eve slid from the equipment case, sliding her phone in her pocket, then gesturing toward Lilian. "You're the one with the flashlight."

"Does that mean we're going back?"

"I guess it does. So go ahead and lead the way."


End file.
